Ed Gein: A Living Horror Movie

media circus

As soon as Ed Gein was exposed as a serial killer, journalists from all across the globe flocked to Plainfield, Wisconsin. Ed was an instant celebrity: the combination of transvestism, fetishism and necrophilia shocked people, but they just couldn't get enough.

Declared mentally incompetent, Gein was committed to the Central State Hospital in Waupun, Wisconsin. Ten years later, the court ruled that he was now fit to stand trial but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Although acquitted, he was sent back to the Central State Hospital for the rest of his life.

Described as a model patient, he was constantly quiet and even happy; however he would stare fixedly and disconcertingly at the female nurses and staff members whenever they stepped into his field of vision. Cancer eventually got the better of him and he died on July 26, 1984.

source of inspiration

All this notoriety seemed to represent evil incarnate and artists felt inspired. Author Robert Bloch saw in Ed a weird personality worth exploring. He wrote a story about a grippingly wicked character named Norman Bates. Alfred Hitchcock later adapted it into one of his masterpieces, Psycho .

The Ghastly Gein, as he was nicknamed, was thrust back into public consciousness when Hooper released his film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1974. A decade later, novelist Thomas Harris also derived his inspiration from Ed, when he wrote The Silence of the Lambs . Buffalo Bill, the chief villain is, like Ed Gein, driven to wear his victims' skin.

the legacy

Hooper's film was influential in many ways. Most importantly, it was full of gore and bodily slaughter. While it wasn't the first movie to do so, its success inspired other filmmakers, and soon the teen slasher genre was born.

These films, where a group of teenagers is stalked by a faceless murderer, picking them off one by one until only one girl is left, were soon a commercial phenomenon. In 1978, John Carpenter fine-tuned the genre with Halloween and dozens of copycats followed such as the Friday the 13th and Prom Night franchises.

The era of ingenious murders lasted until the mid-'80s, but didn't stay dead for long. In 1996, screenwriter Kevin Williamson resurrected the teen slasher genre with Scream , by injecting it with self-consciousness and parody.

In the end, even if the chainsaw was pure invention, there are definite similarities between The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Ed Gein story. Are the similarities consistent enough to unambiguously state that the movie was based on a true story? After all, both Gein and Leatherface lived on isolated farms, impaled their victims, and wore their skin. It's up to you to decide.

Human deviance always fascinates people. What we don't understand becomes a source of voyeurism, which, in turn, also explains the popularity of reality TV shows. With an ongoing interest in such horrific events, these stories will always get our attention.

While there was still a media frenzy in Plainfield, Ed Gein's belongings were auctioned off. His car went to a man who wound up displaying it at county fairs; people paid a quarter just for a glimpse of the murderer's automobile. He was popular from the start.

Many books and articles were written about the man, and as mentioned above, he was the inspiration for numerous films. With the 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre already hailed as a blockbuster, it's obvious it will continue to fuel interest in Ed Gein and similarly ghastly stories.

AskMen.com's Analysis Of The Longevity Of This Term's Popularity - 9/10